Tyson Barrie had an assist against the Kings Saturday and is now the Avalanche all time leader in assists, is only one point from breaking the all time Avalanche defender point record and a handful of goals from leading all players who have patrolled their blueline in team history.

A couple of things, didn't this kid just break in a few years ago? Okay, he has been around since 2011 but it just does not seem possible that he has been around long enough for this. Throw in the fact that Colorado has had its fair share of solid defenders over the years, most of the career of Foote, parts of the careers of Blake and sir Raymond, Ozolinch. Erik Johnson has been a direct contemporary of Barrie and has been buried in most stats by the diminutive blueliner.

A few years ago smallish players like Barrie were buried because they were too small and couldn't check but times change, the way the position is played changes with it. Speed and transition are what he is selling and with one of the very best top lines in the game he has turned into one of the most underrated players in the game.

He has two years at a cap friendly deal remaining so he has a chance to run away and hide with the Avalanche records for points/assists/goals as he is only 27 on an up and coming team. Nobody notices but he has turned into a hell of a good little player.

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Tyson Barrie has toiled in 'relative obscurity' (if you can believe that about a team located in Denver, CO) because basically, almost the entire time he was there, the team has been horrid, and the media attention that was given to the teams lead by Sakic, Forsberg, Roy, Foote, Hedjuk, Lemieux, etc was all but gone.

And yes, Barrie was brought up as a relative 'kid' to the league and HAS been around longer than most people think... 7 seasons and counting now.
No other Avalanche player on the blueline since the dismantling of the great Colorado teams of the mid 90's to early 2000's has really had the skillset to produce with the regularity that Barrie has....not even Erik Johnson.

Some of those names mentioned, while they played on much better Colorado teams, were either more defensively oriented while contributing to offense on occasion (Foote), or played much of their careers with other teams before becoming mainstays with the Avalanche (Sandis Ozolinsh, Rob Blake), or were just there at the right time to grab a Cup while spending the rest of their career elsewhere (Ray Bourque).

So yea, lil Tyson Barrie, with his all offense mentality (his biggest critics, in fact, were those that said he played ZERO defense) was right there plugging away, even despite missing time with various injuries, and racking up offensive points, assists in particular, and here he is about to own those Avs records.

If Barrie had been on a more media spotlighted team, maybe this wouldn't be such a surprise ……………...for instance, if Shayne Gostisbehere does the same in a few years in Philly, would people be as surprised? Or if Jake Gardiner continues on as a Maple Leaf and does the same there?
Probably not because the media has white hot spotlights on those teams and many more people would be aware of what they've been doing all that time.

Not Tyson Barrie. Not with the Avalanche being mostly terrible and mostly out of the big spotlights the last several seasons.

Until now that is.
Team looks like it is finally on the upswing, with a fantastic and consistent top line, they are now getting some secondary scoring, they are up in the standings, and NOW people are seeing this small dynamo defenseman Tyson Barrie and going, "Whoa! Where did this guy come from?"

Calgary's Mark Giordano seems very similar to Barrie in the sense that Giordano is a fantastic, do everything defenseman that lots of people didn't know about....until just recently.

And just like if the Flames keep winning, being at the top for the Avalanche would mean more people notice Tyson Barrie and any incoming blueliners will then have HIS records to try and match moving forward.